EOC program to move to Seneca St.
Moving closer to ECC City Campus to facilitate relationship between entities

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The Educational Opportunity Center-UB's most visible program in downtown Buffalo-hopes to move from its present location at 465 Washington St. to offices in the former Empire of America Realty Credit Corp. building at 100 Seneca St., adjacent to the Erie Community College City Campus, by early fall.

EOC Director Sherryl Weems said the center is negotiating to lease the first four floors, as well as some space in the basement, of the five-story building at Seneca and Oak streets, near Dunn Tire Park.

The McGuire Group occupies the top floor of the building.

Mary Gresham, vice president for public service and urban affairs, noted that moving EOC closer to the city campus of ECC "helps to expand the range of educational opportunities for adults and other working professionals in downtown Buffalo."

Weems said EOC administrators determined five years ago that the Washington Street building-owned by the UB Foundation, Inc.-"in its current form was not sufficient" to accommodate EOC's projected growth and direction.

"It was a priority of ours to redefine ourselves, and in doing so to try to find some new space," she said, noting that EOC is focusing more of its attention on job retention, as well as job training and college preparation.

The UBF conducted a feasibility study to determine if EOC's needs could be met with a major renovation of the Washington Street building. The goal, Weems said, was to acquire A-Class office space.

"It's just time," she noted, pointing to the poor condition of the building where EOC has resided for 30 years.

But the UBF study found that the cost to renovate the Washington Street building to meet EOC's specifications would be "outrageous. We could move at less cost," Weems said.

So EOC began "an aggressive campaign" to look for other space.

The criteria were simple: at least 67,000 square feet-the size of the Washington Street building-in a building located within a four-block radius of Lafayette Square, the heart of downtown Buffalo.

Weems said she seriously looked at "no less than eight or nine properties" over the past four years before finding 100 Seneca St.

The new facilities will afford EOC "lots of opportunity for growth and further development, and will help solidify the relationship between the Erie Community College campus and the Educational Opportunity Center," she said.

She noted that two years ago, EOC revisited articulation discussions with ECC to ease the movement of students from EOC to ECC.

The new facilities also will solidify the relationship between ECC and UB, "because the (educational) pipeline continues from the point of entry (EOC or ECC) to point of exit, which we would hope would be the undergraduate degree and possibly professional and graduate study," she added. "We're very excited about being a part of that pipeline and its development."

Added Gresham: "Increased program articulation will facilitate a smooth flow from EOC to other post-secondary institutions in the region."

Weems pointed out that the new site will offer EOC the opportunity to enhance technology and "enable our faculty and staff to think differently about our programs, offerings and even constituency."

EOC provides educational job training, college preparation and related support services to "economically disenfranchised and academically disadvantaged" populations of Western New York. Thousands of individuals have received GEDs, entered college and secured employment through EOC.

Weems said plans to renovate the Seneca Street building already have been developed, and she is confident that the lease will be signed and construction completed by early fall.